STAR TREK (2009)

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"‘Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.’"

THE CAST AND ACTING:

Being a fan of the original crew Star Trek I was rather apprehensive with the casting choices for this film. After seeing the film however, I feel the casting was brilliantly done.

Chris Pine captured Kirk's arrogance and undisciplined attitude perfectly but still managed to make the role his own. It was good to see him create his own character instead of doing an impression of William Shatner's Kirk. This is how he began so you would not expect to him to have the personality of the well seasoned captain we are so familiar with, at least not yet. But even years and several movies from now I am sure we will have Chris Pine's excellent 'interpretation' of James T. Kirk.

Zachary Quinto had some big shoes to fill when he accepted the role of Spock. I was amazed at the talent of this young actor. Having seen him portray Sylar on the popular television show Heroes, I could not imagine him in this role. He played the logical yet emotional 'half-breed' flawlessly. It is a Spock we are not use to seeing, logical but so much emotion just below the surface. Quinto was a perfect choice for another reason other than his flawless performance; he looks exactly like a young Spock. In the film when Quinto and Nimoy where both in profile it was amazing how much alike they look.

My favorite performance has to be from Karl Urban. His uncanny depiction of Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy was superb. If you close your eyes and just listened you would think it was DeForest Kelley. It was not an impression, but an absolute emersion in the role down to the mannerisms, inflections and facial expressions. I hope in the next film (we all know there will be another one) we see a lot more of Bones because Urban's extraordinary talent will undoubtedly shine.

I have read some comments about Anton Yelchin's portrayal of Pavel Chekov was overly done as far as his heavy Russian accent. I do not believe this to be true because you have to remember, he is supposed to be only 17 years old and newly enlisted in Starfleet. Of course his accent is going to be heavier due to the lack of anything but Russian being spoken in his environment. I thought Yelchin did an admirable job but wish we had seen more of his character.

Simon Pegg displayed the correct amount of humor we would expect from a young and energetic Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott. John Cho gave Hikaru Sulu the perfect amount of humbleness and Zoe Saldana was fiery as Nyota Uhura. Eric Bana was another good casting choice as Nero who was not given nearly enough screen time. Bruce Greenwood made the part of Captain Christopher Pike into more of a father figure than a superior officer which was a nice touch.

DIRECTION, VISUALS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Star Trek is filled with magnificent, thrilling, cutting edge visuals and exceptional special effects. It is a stunning film that becomes optically engrossing from the very first frame. This is how photography and special effects should be done. There were several intentional lens flares in the film but they were intentional and for effect. The shaky camera scenes can be frustrating at times, but in the end, they also add to the overall interest of the movie.

J.J. Abrams is simply brilliant as the director. He took a screenplay written by the very talented team of Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman and made it into a truly magical film. When a sequel is made, interests would be best served to have Abrams at the helm once again.

THE GOOD:

Star Trek is by far the best movie I have yet to see this year. I saw Wolverine last weekend and as much as I loved it (yes I did love every minute of it), I have to admit, this was better. It is a film that is worthy of five stars and deserves all the praise it has been receiving.

THE BAD:

I have thought about this at length and I cannot think of one flaw. It is as near to perfect as a film gets. Dialogue, humor, sets, photography, direction, acting and casting are all extraordinary.

THE STORY (may contain spoilers):

I am not going to go into details of the film for the benefit of those who have yet to witness this great film. Star Trek begins as the story of James Tiberius Kirk and Spock and how they came to be members of Starfleet. Then the film evolves into being a story of the entire crew of the Starship Enterprise. In the midst of a dire situation we have several young Starfleet members thrown together aboard the Enterprise. In the end it seems fate has put together the perfect crew.

BOTTOM LINE:

This is another film I had a hard time putting expectations to the side, but I have to say even though I had very high expectations, it surpassed them all. Since I have been a fan of Star Trek (original crew) for my entire life it was exciting to see how it all began. I highly recommend this film to anyone, familiar with the series or not, it makes no difference because this is the beginning of the story. I can guarantee this film will create an entire new legion of Star Trek fans and that is a good thing. I also predict an increase in sales of the original series as well as the films. I already cannot wait for the next movie for we are sure to see more 'on-screen' time from the entire crew of the Enterprise.

Thanks for reading.